Table pads are typically used in the medical industry to provide support and/or comfort to a patient lying on a medical table. For example, pads are sometimes positioned on a standard hospital bed to provide further comfort to the patient. Furthermore, pads have been used to support a patient during surgical procedures.
Pad designs have taken on many forms to meet specific needs. For example, soft urethane foam pads (e.g., about 1/4 inch thick) have been utilized to provide comfort to patients while lying on a hard surface such as a surgical table. Such foam pads are relatively inexpensive and can be readily washed or thrown away after the medical procedure has been performed. In addition, inflatable medical pads have been designed to reduce pressure sores associated with long-term patient immobility. Such inflatable pads may comprise an air permeable but waterproof fabric which provides an airflow around the patient. Such airflow reduces skin breakdown by reducing the contact between skin and moisture, the moisture being withdrawn by the airflow.
Although the above-noted medical pads have met with some commercial success, these products tend to not provide sufficient patient comfort and/or tend to be relatively expensive to manufacture. For example, although relatively inexpensive, urethane foam does not adequately compensate for the contour of the human body, and further does not adjust for different patient weights. The air permeable pads tend to be relatively expensive to manufacture and can be expensive to operate since they require a constant source of pressurized air to maintain the pad at proper inflation.
When utilized to support a patient on an imaging apparatus (e.g., an x-ray imager), medical pads must be substantially radiolucent to avoid the formation of image artifacts. Such image artifacts can be caused by medical pads which have varying thicknesses in the region where imaging is being performed. For example, the placement of a pad seam directly in line with an imaging axis will likely result in the formation of an image artifact, which may interfere with the performance of the imaging operation. This is likely one reason why inflatable pads are not currently favored for use in imaging applications.
Radiolucency is also important to reduce the amount of radiation required to form a suitable image. More specifically, if a table pad is not substantially radiolucent, the imaging apparatus will typically automatically compensate by increasing the level of radiation being transmitted by the apparatus. This increase in radiation can be harmful to medical personnel. In addition, scatter of the radiation (i.e., as opposed to absorption) caused by non-radiolucency can undesirably come into contact with medical personnel. The quality of the x-ray image may be compromised as the pad absorbs a portion of the transmitted radiation.
During catheter lab procedures, where the heart is typically imaged, it is most-important for the pad to be radiolucent in the upper torso region. In addition, for such procedures, fluids that are generated during the catheter procedure (e.g., blood, contrast media, body fluids, etc.) should be prevented from migrating toward the upper torso section to avoid such fluids interfering with the imaging.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a catheter lab pad which is radiolucent in an area of interest (e.g., in the upper torso section of the pad to accommodate catheter lab imaging of the heart). It is a further object of the present invention to design an inflatable catheter lab pad wherein longitudinal seams are precisely positioned to avoid interference with imaging axes. Such pad will further be designed to accommodate the presence of fluids generated during catheter lab procedures so that such fluids do not interfere with the imaging.